At some point, just about every decision made in a large organization requires stakeholder buy-in – and when it comes to purchasing new software platforms for the business, you need to get your IT decision makers on board.

Though “shadow IT” (the use of software and other information technology outside of IT’s purview) is common in many organizations, taking a rogue approach to tech adds risk to any technology project. This can make it harder to apply holistic, company-wide approaches and processes, or introduce security risks that non-technical employees may be ill-equipped to deal with.​When business and IT leaders are aligned, companies are better able to find solutions that successfully support employee needs and organizational objectives with fewer downsides. But while one recent literature review from Stockholm University found that business-IT alignment is associated with better overall performance, the study also noted that for many companies, getting everyone on the same page is typically an elusive feat.​

Logging specific location details and information related to location can be challenging, especially in places where a simple street address doesn’t apply. One of our customers’ most frequently requested mobile capabilities is a more accurate way for teams in the field to capture and share precise location data with others in the organization. We want to empower you and your team with easy access to the information they need from the field.​

The success of your business depends on your ability to offer clients speed, consistency, and a high level of quality — and to do it again day after day and quarter after quarter. But as more businesses recognize the importance of providing seamless customer experiences across the supply chain, delivering customer satisfaction is no longer a competitive differentiator — it’s a business imperative.

While each customer is unique, there are common tasks and functions involved in managing these vital relationships, whether you work with just a few customers or hundreds of thousands. An ability to implement standard processes to guide each stage of the customer relationship can improve your ability to best serve each individual customer and also help you scale your business.​To help you meet your customers’ needs at every stage, we’ve designed these five templates and template sets to get you up and running in Smartsheet in no time.​

When it comes to working remotely, 16th-century poet John Donne may have said it best: “No man is an island entire of itself …”​Yet too often, remote workers exist on virtual islands, cut off from the day-to-day rhythm of business and one step removed from the company and team goals. This experience can be isolating for employees— and costly for business.​

Just because something is ubiquitous doesn’t mean it’s the better way. There are countless examples of products and tools that though popular simply don’t deliver on their promise. And within businesses of all sizes, one of the biggest culprits is spreadsheets.

Though a majority of businesses use spreadsheets in various capacities, these tools are often used by default without anyone giving serious consideration to the benefits or costs they offer compared to other solutions. In the drive to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness that’s slowly starting to change: one report focused on finance and accounting professionals, for example, found that Excel usage for budgeting and planning purposes dropped six percentage points from 2017 to 2018, to 63 percent.

This suggests that many businesses have yet to evaluate the hidden productivity toll and other costs of managing work in spreadsheets. Here are seven ways that using spreadsheets to manage tasks and projects can cost your business.

Back in the early 00s, I was a project manager (PM). In a lot of ways, project management was the most challenging role I’ve ever worked in, and I’ve got huge respect for those who do it well.

One of the most challenging responsibilities as a PM back then was when something went wrong with a project or process, and I was asked to do a “post-mortem.” Some people call them “autopsies” or “360 reviews,” but they’re synonymous. The point was to determine why a project came in late, or low-quality, or over budget. Or, when an ongoing process was supposed to provide predictable outputs, but failed to do so.

This root cause analysis and reporting back to stakeholders usually involved tedious hours, or even days, spent combing through email threads to see where things got off track, where a critical piece of information was missed, or where a requirement was changed mid-project and the change wasn’t managed properly.​